Dynamic simulations of the molecular conformations of wild type and mutant xanthan polymers suggest that conformational differences may contribute to observed differences in viscosity

Xanthan gum is an exopolysaccharide secreted by the bacterium Xanthamonas campestris whose ability to make solutions viscous at low concentrations and over a pH and temperature range have generated much interest in both academic and industrial environments. Mutant Xanthamonas strains have been derived that produce xanthan gums with an altered or variant subunit chemical structure and different measured viscosities when compared with the wild type (wt) form of the polymer. Two variant gums were targeted as potentially interesting in this study, these being the nonacetylated tetramer (natet) and the acetylated tetramer (atet), which both lack a side-chain terminal mannose residue and in one case (natet) lacks an acetate group on an internal mannose residue. Solutions of these tetrameric gums possess viscosities higher (natet) and lower (atet) than the wt gum, and therefore we have attempted to determine whether these molecules possess unique conformational preferences when compared with the wt and with each other. In this manner we can initiate an understanding of how a polysaccharide's conformation contributes to its solution properties. The GEGOP software permits a sampling of the static and dynamic equilibrium states of carbohydrate molecules, and this software was employed to calculate equilibrium states of representative oligosaccharides with chemical structures representative of xanthan-like molecules. Energy minimization techniques revealed similar local minima for all three molecules. Some of these minima are comprised of elongate backbone conformations (A type) in which side chains fold onto backbone surfaces. Other minima with A backbones possessed side chains in less intimate backbone contact especially when calculations were performed with a low dielectric constant. This phenomenon was particularly pronounced in the wt molecule where an increased number of negatively charged side-chain residues experience charge repulsion resulting in reduced side-chain-backbone contact. Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC) dynamic simulations performed with an elevated temperature factor (1000 K) allowed a better qualitative representation of conformational space than 300 K simulations. Employing a nonhierarchical cluster analysis method (population density profile: PDP) coupled with a classification scheme, it was possible to partition resulting MMC data sets into conformational families. This analysis revealed that in simulations performed with different dielectric constant values (10, 25, and infinity) all molecules possessed primarily A-type backbones. Less elongate, more open helical backbone forms (B, C, D, J, and Flat-a) did occur during the simulations but were populated to a lesser extent. In the natet molecule significantly open helical backbones existed (E, F, G, H, and I) that did not occur in the lower viscosity wt and atet molecules. PDP clustering methods and subsequent conformational classification applied to the first residue (mannose) of the side chain permitted a determination of side-chain orientation. Comparison of all three molecules indicated a larger population of side-chain conformational families in less direct backbone contact for the wt molecule than either of the variant molecules (natet/atet) suggesting that the side chains in the wt are more flexible. Thus, a major conformational difference between the high viscosity natet and the lower viscosities of the wt/atet is the increased amount of open helical backbone in the natet. In addition, the significant difference between the higher viscosity wt and the lower viscosity atet is the increase side-chain flexibility in the wt. We hypothesize that conformational differences of this kind could form a partial explanation of the observed differences in viscosity between these xanthan-like polymers.     

峡口水库沥青混凝土面板的施工与试验

以灌溉、防洪为主的峡口水库大坝，为沥青混凝土面板堆石坝，为研究低温抗裂性能，对沥青混凝土面板破损取样，进行了配比和多种力学性能试验，并与原面板设计指标进行了对比。由于面板经受住了－20℃以下的低温考验，其所用沥青指标、破损取样试验结果，特别是冻断低温指标，对确定水工沥青混凝土低温抗裂检验标准有重要参考价值。     

用单芯片CDC和IDC提高精密度和准确度

传统的高精密电容检测和阻抗检测应用需要将一套收集的分立器件巧妙的组合起来以提供完整的测量解决方案。这种方法不仅在器件选择方面十分耗时，并且由于各个应用之间即使有很小的差异，也需要做大量设计验证、评估、优化和鉴定。     

Prostate enlargement in mice due to fetal exposure to low doses of estradiol or diethylstilbestrol and opposite effects at high doses

On the basis of results of studies using high doses of estrogens, exposure to estrogen during fetal life is known to inhibit prostate development. However, it is recognized in endocrinology that low concentrations of a hormone can stimulate a tissue, while high concentrations can have the opposite effect. We report here that a 50% increase in free-serum estradiol in male mouse fetuses (released by a maternal Silastic estradiol implant) induced a 40% increase in the number of developing prostatic glands during fetal life; subsequently, in adulthood, the number of prostatic androgen receptors per cell was permanently increased by 2-fold, and the prostate was enlarged by 30% (due to hyperplasia) relative to untreated males. However, as the free serum estradiol concentration in male fetuses was increased from 2- to 8-fold, adult prostate weight decreased relative to males exposed to the 50% increase in estradiol. As a model for fetal exposure to man-made estrogens, pregnant mice were fed diethylstilbestrol (DES) from gestation days 11 to 17. Relative to controls, DES doses of 0.02, 0.2, and 2.0 ng per g of body weight per day increased adult prostate weight, whereas a 200-ng-per-g dose decreased adult prostate weight in male offspring. Our findings suggest that a small increase in estrogen may modulate the action of androgen in regulating prostate differentiation, resulting in a permanent increase in prostatic androgen receptors and prostate size. For both estradiol and DES, prostate weight first increased then decreased with dose, resulting in an inverted-U dose-response relationship.     

Treatment of radiation-induced nervous system injury with heparin and warfarin

When radiation is used to treat nervous system cancer, exposure of adjacent normal nervous system tissue is unavoidable, and radiation-induced injury may occur. Acute injury is usually mild and transient, but late forms of radiation-induced nervous system injury are usually progressive and debilitating. Treatment with corticosteroids, surgery, and antioxidants is often ineffective. We treated 11 patients with late radiation-induced nervous system injuries (eight with cerebral radionecrosis, one with a myelopathy, and two with plexopathies, all unresponsive to dexamethasone and prednisone) with full anticoagulation. Some recovery of function occurred in five of the eight patients with cerebral radionecrosis, and all the patients with myelopathy or plexopathy. Anticoagulation was continued for 3 to 6 months. In one patient with cerebral radionecrosis, symptoms recurred after discontinuation of anticoagulation and disappeared again after reinstitution of treatment. We hypothesize that anticoagulation may arrest and reverse small-vessel endothelial injury--the fundamental lesion of radiation necrosis--and produce clinical improvement in some patients.     

我国台湾省的抽水蓄能电站

我国台湾省目前有明潭和明湖两座抽水蓄能电站，其装机容量２６０２ 万ｋ Ｗ ，占台湾省电力系统总装机容量的１０１％ ， 主要用来解决峰谷差的矛盾和提高电网供电质量， 降低系统发电综合成本， 其运行和检修情况良好。台湾省电力公司对这两个直属的抽水蓄能电厂直接负责其建设与运行管理。     

Morphology of amorphous layers ballistically deposited on a planar substrate

Identification of a specific biomolecular target appropriately sensitive to a wide array of anesthetics has been elusive. At concentrations close to their respective ED50's for anesthesia in man or other species, 18 compounds, differing in potencies up to 66,000 fold, inhibited cytochrome P450 mediated metabolism of aminopyrine, a synthetic substrate, and arachidonic acid (AA), an endogenous substrate, in isolated liver microsomes. There was a highly significant correlation for both substrates between the absolute concentrations required for anesthesia (EC50) and for inhibition of P450 activity (Ki or IC50). The mean Ki/EC50 ratio was 0.97 for inhibition of aminopyrine demethylase. The mean IC50/EC50 ratios were 0.42 and 0.64 for inhibition of two AA-derived products and 2.8 for a third; a mean ratio of 1.4 for inhibition of overall AA metabolism suggests interaction of general anesthetics with a composite of P450 isozymes. The universal cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, in conjunction with other lipid oxygenases (cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases) participate in the second messenger AA cascade. In nerve cells the sensitivity of these enzymes to hydrophobic neurodepressant drugs may underlie the state of general anesthesia: reversible disruption of intracellular and intercellular signalling without impairment of enzymes vital to cell respiration.     

令牌多环网性能—可靠性综合评价

网络的性能与可靠性已分别得到广泛的研究,然而,怎样分析具有容错机制的环网的性能仍属有待开拓的研究领域,本文提出了一种分析具有自修复机制的多环网络系统的方法,并给出了报文传输时间分布的拉氏变换式,平均等待时间及平均队列长度公式,分析结果可用于评估故障与修复过程对实时令牌环网的实时响应特性的影响,对基于LAN的分布式实时系统设计具有指导意义。